Why Bengals Fans Should and Shouldn't Be Concerned About Joe Burrow’s Back Injury

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow says he feels good, but antennae – and angst levels – are rising all across the city given his lengthy injury history.

Burrow didn’t throw or do much of anything at practice on Wednesday, saying he’s dealing with back tightness, which he downplayed.

It's reasonable to think he'll be "limited" on the Bengals' official injury report.

“Some normal game day soreness,” he said. “But I'll be all right.”

The first sentence he can speak on with certainty. But the second one, not so much.

There’s no way Burrow can fully know he’ll be all right. At least not until he lets some passes rip and goes through a full practice.

And at the moment, Burrow isn’t sure if that will happen Thursday.

“We’ll see how we feel tomorrow,” he said.

Back issues can be unpredictable. Once they surface, they tend to linger before fully disappearing.

Given that unpredictability, it’s fair to question to the idea of mitigating risk.

But Burrow called the idea of sitting out Sunday’s game against the Texans as a precaution “ridiculous” before delivering the words that perhaps were meant as confident defiance but instead may send shivers through a lot of fans.

“I’ll do what it takes to be out there. If I’m not having surgery, I’ll be out there,” he said.

That’s a sobering sound coming from a guy who has had surgery on his knee, wrist and appendix since arriving in Cincinnati, not to mention a calf injury that didn’t require slicing into his leg but did cut into his effectiveness for the first month of the 2023 season.

But the good news is that just as Burrow has a long history of injuries forcing him to miss games, he has a track record of not practicing or going limited early in the week only to play on Sunday – and play well.

Let’s go through the years.

In 2024, the Bengals put Burrow on the injury report every week with a “wrist” designation after taking criticism for not listing him on the injury report in 2023 despite the fact he was wearing a brace on it leading up to the Baltimore game in which the wrist popped, ending his season.

Despite appearing on the injury report every week, Burrow was a full participant in every practice until the team added a knee injury to report following the Week 14 game against the Dallas Cowboys, the same night his house was burglarized.

Burrow was a limited participant Wednesday and Thursday and full Friday before throwing for 271 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-27 win against the Titans.

The following week, he was limited in all three practices leading up the Browns game, when he threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 19 yards.

Leading up to the Week 17 game against the Denver Broncos, Burrow again was limited in all three practices. And again he played stellar football, throwing for 412 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 25 yards and a score.

Ahead of the season finale at Pittsburgh, he was limited on Tuesday and Wednesday and went full Thursday. On Saturday night, he threw for 277 yards and a touchdown to cap a five-game winning streak to end the season.

While fighting through the calf injury to start 2023, Burrow was a full participant in every practice the first two weeks. He re-aggravated the injury in Week against the Ravens and did not practice the following Thursday before going limited Friday and Saturday.

He played Monday night against the Rams and was not himself, throwing for 259 yards and no touchdowns. But he played well enough for the Bengals to win 19-16 and avoid a 0-3 start.

Burrow was a full participant in every practice after that until the season-ending wrist injury at Baltimore.

After recovering from the appendectomy in 2022, he never appeared on the injury report until the Week 15 game at Tampa Bay. Listed with an elbow, Burrow went full all three days and threw for four touchdowns in a 34-23 win against the Buccaneers.

In 2021 Burrow suffered a throat injury against Green Bay in Week 5. He was a full participant in every practice the next two weeks and was off the injury report heading into Week 8 at the Jets.

He returned to the injury report with a “finger/knee” designation ahead of the Week 14 game against the 49ers.

Burrow didn’t practice Wednesday, was limited Thursday and threw for 348 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-23 overtime loss.

The following week he missed the Wednesday practice before going full Thursday and Friday. The Bengals won a slugfest that week in Denver 15-10, with Burrow throwing for 157 yards and a touchdown.

He returned to full participation after that and took the team to the Super Bowl.

So there is a long history of Burrow not practicing or going limited early in the week only to play like himself on Sunday.

But back injuries can be different.

Thursday’s practice will tell us more, but not everything.

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